Gentleman of the Circus - Remembering Ken MacManus

Reading through the sad but beautifully written eulogy/obituary of Ken MacManus by Samanatha Cartmel (John Darnell's girlfriend. John also contributed to the piece), I cannot begin to explain how strange it feels to have arrived at this time. I was shocked at the feeling of losing someone who was a big part of my growing up. These people seem somehow eternal. Ken was a dear friend of my parents' back when they ran their own circus in the late '70s and early '80s. Ken was part of the Mohawks riding act and later became our ringmaster.

Death of a Lion "tamer" on Ringland's Circus 1950

Seems like an age since I last posted on here. An email came in from my cousin Jim Stockley recently regarding some circus history relating to the elephants Salt and Sauce. He forwarded us this enquiry left on the Circus History website.

 Lion tamer 1960s, 01 Aug 2012 - I am trying to trace the name and date of death of a lion tamer that was killed in the ring in a circus in the United Kingdom in the sixties. The details I have are vague, but there is a background and a reason for trying to find out. My mother recently passed away and I know that although she got engaged to my father in 1964, they had unknowingly been at the same circus performance a few years earlier where the lion-tamer had got killed. I do not know the exact year - I guess it must have been after 1960 - and it would have been in the Midlands of the UK, probably Birmingham or Wolverhampton. Any ideas? Can you help from such vague information?

Better late than never!

 A year or so back I was made aware that journalist Sylvia Kent was writing a piece on Joan Rosaire. Joan is an extraordinary circus horse trainer from an amazing circus family. The Rosaires, and in particular Joan's Uncle Ivor, were a key part of my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". Their own story of hardship and success in the circus world enchanted such contemporary writers as Ruth Manning-Saunders and Rupert Croft Cooke.

I don't know how seeing the actual online article has slipped me by, but by chance I stumbled across it today. Sylvia has several very entertaining and informative pieces on the Rosaires that I would highly recommend you read.

The Famous Rosaires
Billericay Welcomes Circus Rosaire (article featuring "The Legend of Salt and Sauce")

Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

World Circus Culture

circus (Photo credit: fsse8info)

 

World Circus Culture, a feature documentary film, needs help finishing! 

See how you can be a part of the film and watch videos at http://www.indiegogo.com/World-Circus-Culture-Documentary

After filming all over Europe, the US, Canada, and Peru, editing has begun on the film. Director / Producer Angela Snow, and Emmy Award winner editor, Emma Morris, are putting 200 hours of circus footage together to reveal the behind the scenes life, history, and culture of circus on an international scale as never seen before. 

The Final Destination of Boney, Molly and Waddy

The above archive photographs were sourced via Wade Burk's "Circus No Spin Zone" blog. My gratitude to Wade for finding them. They illustrate the final destination of George Lockhart Jnr's original trio of elephants, Boney, Molly and Waddy - or at least it shows Molly and Waddy. This is the accompanying text to the pictures: 

The Mysterious David Taylor (aka Tayleur)

David Taylor, who occasionally went under the title David Tayleur, has recently come to my attention. Although he didn't play a direct role in the lives of the elephants Salt and Sauce he does appear in my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce". Taylor arrives on the scene in 1920, two years prior to John "Broncho Bill" Swallow's acquisition of Salt and Sauce. He was already in partnership with Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake. They had run a small circus in 1919. They then partnered John Swallow in an ill-fated much larger enterprise called "Ringland's Great Circus and Menagerie". The title was obviously capitalizing on the American Ringling Brother's Circus (which became the "Ringling Brother's, Barnum and Bailey Circus") and should not be confused with "Long" Tom Fossett's "Ringland's Circus" of the 1950s (which would also show Salt and Sauce). When the large show failed, Tyrwhitt-Drake pulled out of the partnership. John Swallow continued with his own circus under the old Broncho Bill moniker. Taylor stayed with John Swallow in the same capacity he had been before, as the circus manager. I have recently been contacted by Roy Kneath, who is a descendent of Taylor's, and is trying to get verification on the photographs displayed here. If anyone can say whether or not these images are of David Taylor please let us know.

Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

Lockhart and the Performing Animals Act 1925

Image via Wikipedia

I was recently shown a link to an interesting academic paper about racism and animal abuse in an historic context. The paper, "Racial Prejudice and the Performing AnimalsControversy in Early Twentieth-Century Britain" by David A. H. Wilson of the University of Cumbria,  makes an interesting argument for the way racist ideas were common among both critics and defenders of animal trainers. Amid the all-too-familiar arguments on both sides we note that there are also the usual racist arguments heard today. Fear of losing work to immigrants is just below the surface of certain protestations. This, however, is combined with the bigotry common at the time. For example, species of animals are compared to different races of people and being post-World War I Germaphobia is a hot tactic. Interestingly animal rightists, who these days tend to cite the odd notion of speciesism as an extension of racism, also make a distinction between foreign trainers, who they consider to be cruel, from British trainers.

Damoo Dhotre's 109th Birthday

Readers of this blog might be aware that my father is currently researching a book on Alfred Court, his trainers and his animals. Here and there we have made contacts with the many people that are part of this legacy. As with "The Legend of Salt and Sauce" the experience is most rewarding when we put the pieces together and discover how much a cultural impact the story we are investigating had on people. Damoo Dhotre was an Alfred Court animal presenter that has been mentioned on this blog before. In India his position as an historical and cultural icon is on the ascent and there have been several celebrations done in his name. Today I am delighted to report that a descendent of his, Anand Dhotre, is holding a celebration of the great trainer's 109th birthday with the launch of new website.

Anand told us -  "In present condition of Indian Circus Industry, due to ban on animal performances, we can not expect that any brave artist will rise up like Damoo Dhotre.

Really, Damoo Dhotre was the only Indian who put India's name on world map by showing fearlessness and great determination.

Let's salute this noble son of India today and every day and hope Golden Days will be back to Indian Circus again." 

Circus Industry in India Blog (Damoo Dhotre page)

Birthday Celebration on Buckles Blog

Damoo Dhotre.Com

Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

The Pride of Larry Lamb

Image via WikipediaIt's not even a year on from the Welsh TV show, "Coming Home" revealing the wild animal training ancestry of actor Michael Sheen and the nationwide equivalent, "Who Do You Think You Are?" has established another celebrity circus connection. Larry Lamb, who used to play "Eastenders" soap opera villain "evil" Archie Mitchell and as Mick Shipman in the hit comedy series "Gavin and Stacey", told The Mirror and Daily Mail newspapers that he didn't know much about his heritage due to his mother being adopted. Press reports of the show reveal that Lamb's great-great uncle was Thomas Day known as "Martini Bartlett the Lion King". What they don't expand - and hopefully the show will - is that Day was married to Pauline "Kit" Chipperfield. Chipperfield, a relation of mine on my maternal side, and therefore part of another circus family famed for wild animal training and presenting. Day was also the brother of James "Wild Beast" Day of the once famous Day's Menagerie.

Tom Norman on the BBC

Image via WikipediaTom Norman was a pioneer of the fairground industry in Victorian Britain. He was famed for his presentation of the freak-show. Norman was known for the way he would blend the accepted "science" of the era with outright fantasy to provide a back-story for the various "freaks" that were exhibited on his fairs.

The most famous of Norman's employees was Joseph Merrick "The Elephant Man". Contrary to popular belief, largely put across in David Lynch's* fictionalized account of Merrick's life, there is scant evidence that disabled people were especially abused or used like slaves. Often the opportunity to earn by exploiting one's condition - and Merrick was on 50/50 box office split with Norman - was a better alternative to begging, hawking goods or a life in the workhouse. Details of this and the bad representation that sideshows, circuses and their closely related forms of entertainment endure to this day were presented in my article "Circus and Other 'Low' Arts: A Defence"

Circus elephants lend a helping trunk in Missouri

Cover via Amazon“Hike! Urgh! Hike! Urgh!” My toddler daughter is addicted to Dumbo and the words of that song, along with most of the others, now regularly haunt my waking thoughts. Romanticists would say “It’s in her blood”. True, her grandfather, great grandfather, great uncle and cousins have all been circus elephant trainers at some time and she has a potential unbroken performing lineage on my mother’s side that stretches back 300 years. However, the more sceptical would say that other influences around her might have something more to do with it. Anyway, for those of you who know the film might recall that the song I was referring to is the “Song of the Roustabouts”. Roustabout isn’t a term I have ever heard used in UK circus culture, but it refers to what we would call “tent-men”.  As the name implies, these are the men who put up the Big Top along with the rest of the show. In “Dumbo” the fantastical scene that accompanies this song sees the tent-men being assisted not by the show’s fellow human performers, but by the circus elephants.

Water for Elephants - An Impression by Jim Stockley

Image by LiuTao via Flick
It's been three years since "The Legend of Salt Sauce" was published. Since then I have noticed circus elephants appear in the media on a few occasions. This year sees the release of the movie "Water for Elephants", a Hollywood adaptation of Sarah Gruen's circus novel of the same name. I haven't seen the film yet, but my cousin, a wild animal trainer in South Africa, got to see the film before its release in the US and UK. Here is his "impression" of the film. I think it provides a rather unique insight given that his respective backgrounds include a background in traditional circus (both Jim and my family were working on circuses during the Prohibition era the film is set) and a strong working knowledge in the film industry.  

 

Coming Home

Image via WikipediaJust a reminder to everyone that my father, Jim Clubb, will be interviewed on Michael Sheen's programme "Coming Home" tonight, 24 November 2010. This show is much like "Who do you think you are?" with Sheen tracing his roots back to a wild animal presenter/trainer. It is of particular interest to this blog not just because it involves my father, who was the main researcher for my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", but because it involves circus history. 

Before this blog starts looking like Michael Sheen's fan site, this is the link for programme details. It can be viewed on BBC Wales channel, BBC iPlayer and through Sky. 

Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

Jim Clubb with Michael Sheen on Wed 24th Nov

Image via WikipediaRecently on here I was happy to announce that my father, the wild animal trainer and circus/zoo historian, Jim Clubb, would be featured on a TV show with the critically acclaimed actor, Michael Sheen. Despite having a very respectuable career in front of live audiences for serveral years my father's main area in entertainment is usually behind the scenes, training wild animals for the media industry. He did some stuntwork a few years back, doubling for David Jason in "A Touch of Frost", episode "Endangered Species", but that job is often given to his senior trainers.

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Sam Lockhart

The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Sam Lockhart

Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Salt and Sauce helping the war effort

I am very grateful to George Pinder Snr, whose family feature quite heavily in the early part of my book "The Legend of Salt and Sauce", for posting up this archive piece from a Wolverhampton newspaper on his Facebook profile. George told me "my grandmas sister aunt nellie, lived in wolverhampton, and sent her this cutting, i came across it today sorting out some old stuff, its from the 1940s ww2". I don't have the full details yet, but it reveals new information to me about the two famous elephants, Salt and Sauce's activities during the 1940s. Prior to this I understood that the elephants, who were still owned by John "Broncho Bill" Swallow, were touring during the war years (1939-1945) with Paulo's Circus and engaged at various theatrical venues during the Christmas seasons. We did have an unsubstantiated report that they had helped clear a site for the war effort. However, this article shows the two elephants leading a plough for Kingswood Bank farm during the 1940s as a matter of "national importance" for farmer, Robert Wilkes. It was more than likely a type of publicity stunt, which John Swallow - a consumate promoter - would have dreamt up. 




Jamie Clubb's other blogs: www.beelzebubsbroker.blogspot.com www.clubbchimera.com

Passport to yesterday? The Trefoil Guild and exploring the "other country"

With “The Legend of Salt and Sauce” now reaching its second edition’s second anniversary, it has been a little while now since I have attended any signings. Therefore my father and I were delighted to visit the Trefoil Guild to give a one hour talk and PowerPoint presentation on our book. When we launched the first edition of the book it was in front of the Circus Friends Association. When we launched the second edition it was in front of the Wolverhampton Historical Society. Both institutions obviously had a strong interest in the subject. On other occasions we have done signings for zoo enthusiasts and historians who were either interested in the general subject of performing animals in music halls, zoos and circuses or in how the legend of these two elephants impacted on their locality. However, from time to time we get requests from societies – like the Ladies Probus Club – who booked us on the basis of the unusual quality of our subject. The Trefoil Club was this sort of booking.
It is always interesting to not only help bring people’s memories alive again – some of our audience members were into their 80s – but also to listen to their accounts of the times I only know through researching documents, books, photographs and newspaper articles. The era Salt and Sauce lived in was one that dramatically changed around the time their demise thus helping to condemn these once exceptionally well-known elephants to the “forgotten history” archives. Although none of those who attended our talk remembered these elephants - despite one contemporary author quoted in my book calling them the most famous elephants of their time - they did have very fond memories of my family’s elephants. One lady even had several photographs she had published taken in the early ‘60s of my family’s elephants being walked from the now non-existent Chipping Norton station. Despite being interested and buying plenty of copies of our book, much of the discussion and questions centred on my father’s involvement with my grandparents’ large number of elephants.

Michael Sheen: descendent of a wild animal trainer

Image via Wikipedia

I very rarely write anything publically about my parents' business. They work in the media all the time, so it would be  an overwhelming task to report on their activities. It would swamp my already very tight schedule and keep me away from writing about my main areas of interest. To put it simply, my heritage and the other work I do on a day-to-day basis are sources of proud inspiration, but not the main source of my writing material.

However, I am delighted to announce that my father has agreed to be an expert on a television programme on Michael Sheen's lion training great-grandmother (details to be confirmed) on Bostock and Wombwelle's Menagerie.

Norman Barrett receives his MBE

Following on from my post regarding Norman Barrett place on the New Year's Honours List. Yesterday Norman received his MBE at Buckingham Palace.

Fighting the Historical Airbrush: This Time it's Personal!

One thing I got very used to during my research for my first book was the unreliability of witness testimony in the circus world. Much of what had been told and published was purposefully designed to enhance the career of the narrator. After all, that is the nature of showbusiness. It is not always excusable, but at least understandable. My job was to present as honest a picture as I could by using my lived knowledge of being a part of an old circus family and my evolving skills as an historical investigator. However, as I began to delve deeper into the old reports, show programmes and reports from independent eyewitnesses I began to uncover a reality that has gradually been erased from my country’s consciousness. Forgotten histories, in general, are an interest of mine, but as time goes on I have become more shocked than ever at how much my culture has been purposefully airbrushed out. There are many examples, much of which I put down to the UK’s collective cultural flaw of snobbery, are discussed in my book. However, recently the whole issue has come closer to home than I find comfortable.